Merlin Dumbledore
by fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: A short story


Merlin sighed. Too long had he been alone. Too long had he been waiting for Arthur.

Maybe it was time to start anew.

He remembered searching for the Deathly Hallows a while back to see if they could end his incredibly long life. Nothing else had worked.

So maybe it was time for a fresh start. As a whole new person. It wouldn't be hard to shut his memories away for a few decades and turn back the clock to seem as if he had been born again.

He'd have to change his appearance though. Just in case he came across a ghost that recognised him.

A whole new start.

A whole new life.

~M~

Merlin travelled to a quiet village to where he knew he could find a magical family. Maybe one who had had trouble trying for a child.

He felt drawn to a doorstep and performed the spells he knew would change him. His memories folded away into the back of his mind as he morphed into a small, auburn baby with an exceptionally long nose.

The door opened and a tall woman looked down at him. She picked him up and the baby Merlin had become squirmed. She carried him gently inside. A man walked over and looked at his electric blue eyes, the only thing he hadn't changed about his appearance.

"He was abandoned on our doorstep."

"Could we raise him? If he's a muggle, he would be isolated as a Squib."

"We have to. Look at him. He needs a family."

"We'll have to think of a name."

"I like Albus."

And so Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was born.

~M~

* * *

~A~

Albus Dumbledore sighed, looking at his hand. There was only one outcome to this year.

He would have to die. He'd lived too long.

He had asked Severus to do it.

Professor Trelawney kept pestering him about the lightning struck tower. It really was frustrating. He had always had a mistrust of fortunes and predictions and prophesies. What if someone failed in their destiny? What if their destiny was to protect their best friend, were they doing it for that or because they were friends? Dumbledore knew that, by trying to avoid the future, that was often what ensured it.

~A~

He didn't expect the Killing Curse to tickle quite as much as it did. As he fell from the tower- really, that literal?- he remembered wondering why he didn't die.

And memories came flooding back.

Memories of another life he had hidden to lock away the pain and suddenly he knew who the blonde man he had seen in the Mirror of Erised was.

Arthur.

Albus Dumbledore died that night.

And Merlin was back.

~A~

* * *

~M~

It was certainty an odd experience, being at your own funeral. Merlin had cast a charm on a log to look like Dumbledore. He had the wand buried with the log.

So, even without his memories, he searched for the Hallows.

They wouldn't help now. He was fairly sure they belonged to Harry Potter. He'd even left the boy the stone.

Hearing all the things said about him was strange, but it wasn't the first time. Gwen had organised him a funeral a few months after Leon's and, as it turned out, a year before her own. Hearing the things she said made him tear up. He didn't seem to be doing that today. Maybe because Merlin was a much larger part of him than Dumbledore had been.

The only thing he wanted to do was apologise to Harry.

"Hey. You're Harry Potter, right?"

"Yeah."

"You were quite close to Dumbledore, weren't you?"

"What's this about?"

"I would like to tell you how sorry I am. But you have Ron and Hermione and Ginny and Neville and all of the DA."

"How do you know about that?" Harry asked, looking up from his feet to face the man, only to see a pair of electric blue eyes vanishing into the crowd.

The man had gone.

But Merlin swore to himself that he would return.

~M~

* * *

**Author's Note: Just a quick one. And sorry about the appalling title, I really am rather bad at them. **

**My brother and I were watching Deathly Hallows and we were talking and then he said, maybe Merlin made himself forget everything and became Dumbledore and that's why Dumbledore is such a good wizard, because he's actually Merlin. So this happened. **

**Disclaimer: Well, my name's not J.K. Rowling or BBC, so I'm taking that as a no, I don't own them. I don't even really own the idea, that was my brother, he just got me to write it because he can't write stories and ideas cannot be copyrighted as ideas do not belong to anyone. Feel free to borrow this idea if you like. PM me the link if you do, I'd love to read it. **

**Thanks for reading!**


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